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User blog:Ugra Murda Kurma/Christian Bhakti
http://www.christianyoga.org/ChristianBhaktiYoga.html We are only allow to use website definitions. PART ONE: CHRISTIAN BHAKTI YOGA PART TWO: BHAKTI YOGA FROM INDIA PART THREE: WHAT LOVE IS? CHRISTIAN BHAKTI YOGA: THE PATH OF LOVE The path of Christian Yoga is a way of following Jesus Christ and using techniques of yoga to assist you. Christian Bhakti Yoga is the expression of love to follow Jesus Christ. However, you may choose to follow Jesus Christ in a very personal way or in a more impersonal way. You may choose to emphasize personal devotion to Jesus, as your spiritual ideal, and primary means of spiritual expression. In this case your selfless dedication, knowledge, meditation, and contemplation can all be expressions of love directed toward Jesus. Another way of following Jesus is to follow the form of devotion that Jesus Himself followed, which is personal devotion to God as His Father. On the other hand, you may choose to direct most of your forms of spiritual expression toward God in a more impersonal sense, as the Ground of your Being, the source of your spiritual nature. Whether you choose the personal or impersonal direction, it is recommended that you make an effort to value and appreciate the opposite direction, even if it is not suited to you personally. A third possibility is to allow your devotion to be expressed in both a personal and impersonal way. You can have personal devotion to Jesus and God the Father and at the same time be open to God being the impersonal Ground of Being. Your devotion can also focus on receptivity to the Holy Spirit, as the expression of Divine Love and Light, which again can be felt very personally or impersonally. Whatever direction you choose, it is recommended that you consider incorporating both personal and impersonal elements in your spiritual practices, since both can be helpful in your growth. The Hindu teacher Ramakrishna spoke of God in a manifested form as an ice sculpture, which is the personal aspect of God that can be worshiped personally. You can cling to this ice sculpture with your heart-felt devotion. But the heat of your passionate love for your Beloved can produce a surprising result: The ice sculpture can melt and become water. However, your devotion does not have to end. The water now under your feet becomes the ground upon which you are standing—the Ground of your Being. You can still worship your Beloved because He has simply changed form. This time the heat of your devotion can cause the water to evaporate, but you have not lost your Beloved. The water becomes part of the very air that you breathe and you can breathe in your Beloved so now there is no separation between you and your Beloved. In this analogy the ice sculpture can be Jesus, and the water can be God the Father, the Creator or the Ground of Being, but experienced as being separate from yourself. The water that evaporates into the air can be seen in different ways. The evaporated water can be the Holy Spirit or the breath of God’s life that gives you your spirit. Being aware of breathing in the water in the air can be the awakening of the Christ Self as your own true nature united with God or simply what traditional Christianity calls divine union. All information is copyright of the oowner basted on Publishers board. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhakti In Hinduism, Bhakti (also spelled Bhakthi; Sanskrit: भक्ति, literally meaning "portion, share", from the root bhaj-'' "to partake in, to receive one's share"[1]) refers to religious devotion of a devotee in the worship of the divine. Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Iṣṭa-devatā. ''Bhakti can be used of either tradition of Hindu monotheism, Shaivaism or Vaishnavism.[2] While bhakti as designating a religious path is already a central concept in the Bhagavad Gita,[3] it rises to importance in the medieval history of Hinduism, where the Bhakti movement saw a rapid growth of bhakti beginning in Southern India with the Vaisnava Alvars (6th-9th century CE) and Saiva Nayanars (5th-10th century CE), who spread bhakti poetry and devotion throughout India by the 12th-18th century CE.[4][5] The Bhagavata Purana is text associated with the Bhakti movement which elaborates the concept of bhakti as found in the''Bhagavad Gita''.[6] The Bhakti movement reached North India in the Delhi Sultanate and throughout the Mughal era contributed significantly to the characteristics of Hinduism as the religion of the general population under the rule of a Muslim elite. After their encounter with the expanding Islam religion, Bhakti proponents—who were traditionally called "saints"—"elaborated egalitarian doctrine that transcended the caste system and encouraged individuals to seek personal union with the divine."[7] Its influence also spread to other religions during this period,[8][9][10][11] and became an integral aspect of Hindu culture and society in the modern era.[5] HistoryEdit Main article: Bhakti movement Scholarly consensus sees bhakti as a post-Vedic movement that developed primarily during the era of Indian epic poetry.[25][26] The Bhagavad Gita is the first text to explicitly use the word "bhakti" to designate a religious path, using it as a term for one of three possible religious approaches.[27] The Bhagavata Purana develops the idea more elaborately,[6] while the Shvetashvatara Upanishad evidences a fully developed Shiva-bhakti (devotion to Shiva)[19] and signs of guru-bhakti.[28]An early sutra by Pāṇini (c. 5th century BCE) is considered by some scholars as the first appearance of the concept of bhakti, where the word "vun" may refer to bhakti toward "Vasudevarjunabhya" (with implied reference to Krishna Vasudeva).[29]Other scholars question this interpretation.[30][31] The Bhakti Movement was a rapid growth of bhakti beginning in Tamil Nadu in Southern India with the Saiva Nayanars (4th-10th century CE)[5] and the Vaisnava Alvars (3rd-9th century CE) who spread bhakti poetry and devotion throughout India by the 12th-18th century CE.[4][5] The Alvars ("those immersed in God") were Vaishnava poet-saints who wandered from temple to temple singing the praises of Vishnu. They established temple sites (Srirangam is one) and converted many people toVaishnavism. Their poems were collected in the 10th century as the Four Thousand Divine Compositions also referred to asDravida Veda or Alwar Arulicheyalgal or Divya Prabhandham, which became an influential scripture for the Vaishnavas. The Alwars and Nayanmars were instrumental in propagating the Bhakti tradition. For the first time, Bagwan or God reached the masses and the masses were able to associate themselves with the religion. Another significant thing was that the Alwars and Naynmars came from various background and castes including that of the Sudras (working class). The Bhagavata Purana's references to the South Indian Alvar saints, along with its emphasis on a more emotional bhakti, have led many scholars to give it South Indian origins, though there is no definitive evidence of this.[32][33] Like the Alvars the Saiva Nayanar poets softened the distinctions of caste and gender. The Tirumurai, a compilation of hymns by sixty-three Nayanar poets, is still of great importance in South India. Hymns by three of the most prominent poets,Appar (7th century CE), Campantar (7th century) and Cuntarar (9th century), were compiled into the Tevaram, the first volumes of the Tirumurai. The poets' itinerant lifestyle helped create temple and pilgrimage sites and spread devotion to Shiva.[34] Early Tamil-Siva bhakti poets quoted the Black Yajurveda specifically.[35] By the 12th to 18th centuries, the bhakti movement had spread to all regions and languages of India. Bhakti poetry and attitudes began to color many aspects of Hindu culture, religious and secular, and became an integral part of Indian society.[5] Prominent bhakti poets such as Ravidas, eknath and Kabir wrote against the hierarchy of caste.[36] It extended its influence to Sufism,[37] Sikhism,[9] Christianity,[10] and Jainism.[11] Bhakti offered the possibility of religious experience by anyone, anywhere, at any time.[38] Types and classificationsEdit Bhakti can be done in four ways:[39][40] #To the Supreme Self (Atma-Bhakti) #To God or the Cosmic Lord as a formless being (Ishvara-Bhakti) #To God in the form of various Gods or Goddesses (Ishta Devata-Bhakti) #To God in the form of the Guru (Guru-Bhakti) Bhakti Yoga Main article: Bhakti yoga The Bhagavad Gita introduces bhakti yoga in combination with karma yoga and jnana yoga,[41][42] while the Bhagavata Purana expands on bhakti yoga, offering nine specific activities for the bhakti yogi.[43] Bhakti in the Bhagavad Gita offered an alternative to two dominant practices of religion at the time: the isolation of the sannyasin and the practice of religious ritual.[38] Bhakti Yoga is described by Swami Vivekananda as "the path of systematized devotion for the attainment of union with the Absolute".[44] In the twelfth chapter of the Gita, Krishna describes bhakti yoga as a path to the highest spiritual attainments.[45] In the ninth chapter, he says, Fill thy mind with Me, be My devotee, sacrifice unto Me, bow down to Me; thus having made thy heart steadfast in Me, taking Me as the Supreme Goal, thou shalt come to Me. (B-Gita 9.34)[46] Shandilya and Narada produced two important Bhakti texts, the Shandilya Bhakti Sutra and Narada Bhakti Sutra.[47][48] They define devotion, emphasize its importance and superiority, and classify its forms.[49] Ramayana In Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, Rama describes the path as ninefold (nava-vidha bhakti): Such pure devotion is expressed in nine ways, . First is satsang or association with love-intoxicated devotees. The second is to develop a taste for hearing my nectar-like stories. The third is service to the guru (...) Fourth is to sing my kirtan (communal chorus) (...) Japa or repetition of my Holy name and chanting my bhajans are the fifth expression (...) To follow scriptural injunctions always, to practice control of the senses, nobility of character and selfless service, these are expressions of the sixth mode of bhakti. Seeing me manifested everywhere in this world and worshipping my saints more than myself is the seventh mode of''bhakti''. To find no fault with anyone and to be contented with one's lot is the eighth mode of''bhakti''. Unreserved surrender with total faith in my strength is the ninth and highest stage. Shabari, anyone who practices one of these nine modes of my bhakti pleases me most and reaches me without fail.[50] Bhagavata Purana The Bhagavata Purana teaches nine similar facets of bhakti, as explained by Prahlada:[51] (1) śravaṇa ("listening" to the scriptural stories of Kṛṣṇa and his companions), (2) kīrtana("praising", usually refers to ecstatic group singing), (3) smaraṇa ("remembering" or fixing the mind on Viṣṇu), (4) pāda-sevana (rendering service), (5) arcana (worshiping an image), (6)vandana (paying homage), (7) dāsya (servitude), (8) sākhya (friendship), and (9) ātma-nivedana(self-surrender). (from Bhagata Purana, 7.5.23-24) Bhavas Traditional Hinduism speaks of five different bhāvas or "affective essences".[52] In this sense, bhāvas are different attitudes that a devotee takes according to his individual temperament to express his devotion towards God in some form.[53] The different bhāvas are: #''śānta'', placid love for God; #''dāsya'', the attitude of a servant; #''sakhya'', the attitude of a friend; #''vātsalya'', the attitude of a mother towards her child; #''madhura'', the attitude of a woman towards her lover.[53] Several saints are known to have practiced these bhavas. The nineteenth century mystic, Ramakrishna is said to have practiced these five bhavas.[54] The attitude of Hanuman towards lord Rama is considered to be of dasya bhava.[55] The attitude of Arjuna and the shepherd boys of Vrindavan towards Krishna is regarded as sakhya bhava.[54][56] The attitude ofRadha towards Krishna is regarded as madhura bhava.[54] The attitude of Yashoda, who looked after Krishna during his childhood is regarded as vatsalya bhava.[57] Caitanya-caritamrta mentions that Mahaprabhu came to distribute the four spiritual sentiments of Vraja loka: dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and sringara. Sringara is the relationship of the intimate love. Category:Blog posts